


The Last Goodbye

by Lazuli5



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, F/M, Jealousy, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:46:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26606206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazuli5/pseuds/Lazuli5
Summary: Toph witnesses Sokka propose to Suki and her feelings rush back to her.
Relationships: Toph Beifong/Sokka
Comments: 9
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

"Will you marry me?"

Toph had dreamed about those words coming out of his mouth. Not that she'd ever - ever - admit it, but on bad days it consumed her thoughts and fogged up her brain. Sokka, Sokka, Sokka.

She'd had a crush on him since she was twelve years old. Back when they were busy saving the world. It had been silly, really, the way she'd found excuses to be around him, teased him, clung to him, but she wouldn't deny that made her feel safe. Sokka was safe, Sokka was home.

Sokka was down on one knee, pouring his heart out.

Toph put her hands to her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes. But they weren't happy tears.

Because the words weren't for her.

She could feel it, feel it in through the ground, could sense his heart racing, and could feel hers speeding up too. She heard her cry of surprise, then her sharp intake of breath. A small laugh. The sound of her slamming into his chest.

"Yes!"

Sokka let out a sound of relief, but really, was it any shock Suki had said yes? They were crazy about each other. To be honest Toph was surprised that he hadn't asked years ago. But she was surprised that he was asking right here, right now, in front of her.

Of course, he didn't know she was there. She wasn't supposed to be here in Ba Sing Se, behind Sokka's apartment, watching her worst feat unfold before her eyes, and considering she was Toph Beifong, the Greatest Earthbender in the World, that was saying a lot.

But Aang had let slip that Sokka was planning on popping the question, and Toph decided she had to see for herself. 

She knew. Of course she knew. What had she expected? Sokka to break up with Suki and profess his undying love for her instead? No. She had enough sense to know. 

Toph cursed through her tears. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." Why had she come here? What had she hoped to gain out of this? Clarity? Closure? Certainly she'd known that the only thing that would come out of this was pain.

And yet here she was, spying on her best friend and his now fiance when she was supposed to be in with the rest of her friends. And the only thing she cared about was the gaping hole in her heart.

The tension in the air changed. She felt it before she heard it - the laughter stopping abruptly, the squeals ceasing, a pair of feet being placed back on the ground. Toph knew she'd been spotted. Muttering, she hurriedly wiped away her tears.

"Toph?"

And there it was.

"Oh, hey, Sokka," she said lamely.

"Hey," he replied. Toph pictured his tanned face twisting into a frown. "What are you - what are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood, Snoozles. Thought I'd stop by and say hey."

There was a pause as Sokka considered this. Evidently he bought her story, or just didn't want to waste time debating why she was here.

"Well, then, I guess you witnessed -"

"Yeah, I saw," Toph snarled. It came out harsher than she meant it, but she couldn't stop her fists from balling or her teeth from gritting. "Congratulations."

Suki laughed, and Toph felt her stomach clench as she pictured her arm around his, a sparkly new ring on her finger. "Thanks."

"So." Toph narrowed her sightless eyes. "When's the wedding?"

"Give us a break, Toph," Sokka said. "We just got engaged."

"But of course you'll be a bridesmaid, Toph," Suki added, an encouraging smile on her face. "Hey, maybe you'll get to give the bride a kiss again!"

"Again?" Sokka asked as Toph forced a smile that was more like a grimace. She heard him turn, facing Suki now. "What do you mean, again?"

Suki laughed again. "Remember when we were in Dragon's Pass, and Toph almost drowned? When I went in and got her out?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"It's nothing," Toph scowled, kicking ground and accidentally sending a chunk of earth across the courtyard.

"Toph gave me a kiss, but I think it was meant for you, and when she realized who it was she seemed pretty disappointed."

Sokka didn't say anything. Toph felt her face heat up and resisted the urge to look away. Suki's laughter died away as she took in the scene. She cleared her throat awkwardly. 

"Um, sorry, Toph. You don't have to be a bridesmaid if you don't want to be."

"S'alright," she muttered. "If you want me to be one, I'll be one."

"Suki, how about you go show the other guys your ring?" Sokka interrupted. "I'm sure they're around here somewhere."

Suki stared at him, then glanced at Toph, who was standing with her arms crossed a few feet away. "All right," she said slowly. "I'll be back."

Soon after she'd left Toph heard the delighted gasps of Katara and Aang and Zuko's approving grunt. She could feel Sokka staring at her, which didn't help her deepening blush.

"Well?" She finally burst out, tapping her foot impatiently. "What is it, Meathead?"

"Did you really kiss Suki, thinking it was me?"

Toph had seen it coming. She had, really. And yet it took her by surprise. Was it possible to feel two things at once, so opposite to each other. "I thought you were saving me, it was a little thank you. Don't get your panties in a twist."

"Right." The confusion in his voice was so palpable is was funny. "A thank you."

"Look, Snoozles, if there's something you want to say, just say it. I'm sure your bride is waiting." 

Sokka winced at her cold tone. He shifted his weight onto his left foot. "It's just... I don't know. It just bothers me for some reason. No, not bothers. That's not really the right word. I mean, I mean what to meant to say, no, like, well..."

"I'm rolling my eyes, Sokka. Is it working?" Toph smirked. 

"Oh, ha, ha," he said, and just like that they were twelve and fifteen again, and he was teasing her, and she was punching him, and they were happy together. Best friends. 

"Do you love her?" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, but the hesitation in his voice almost made it worth it.

"Of course I love Suki."

"Oh really? Why? Why do you love her? Why do you love her, out of all your options? Come on, Sokka! I'm the blind one, you should be able to see what's right in front of you!"

Toph didn't know when she'd started shouting, but suddenly anger coursed through her veins and erupted from her mouth, tearing down Sokka with words. 

"Didn't all those times mean anything to you? All those times you held my hand and protected me and teased me and helped me, it was just another day, right? Just another day off your shoulders of sheltering the poor blind girl around! Well, I don't know what it did to you, Sokka, but it hit me! It hit me hard, Snoozles! Don't you see? Can't you understand? To be a bridesmaid, to watch the man you've been in love with for the last 10 years marry one of your best friends? You think I can do that? I can sit there and watch it and BE APART OF IT?"

Rocks were tumbling down off of buildings, rising and falling with the sound of Toph's voice, her body going higher and higher as the earth lifted her up, up above a cowering Sokka below.

"I just can't do that, Sokka!" She muttered, finally drawing back. Her towers crumbled and fell around her shaking body. 

Sokka withdrew from his crouch and stared at the trembling girl beneath him. Tears were pooling at the corners of her pale eyes.

"Are you crying?"

"No," was the sniffled reply.

"Oh, Toph..."

"Don't 'Oh, Toph,' me," she said, getting up and wiping her eyes angrily. "I'm leaving. Tell Suki Katara can be her stupid bridesmaid. I'm done."

"Toph - Toph, come on, let's just talk -"

"Goodbye, Sokka. Good luck."

And she walked out of the courtyard with her head held high, leaving Sokka confused and bitter and even more confused.

He never saw her again.


	2. The Second Hello

"Goodbye, Sokka. Good luck."

And she walked out of the courtyard with her head held high, leaving Sokka confused and bitter and even more confused.

He never saw her again. 

...Or so he thought. 

For here he was, five year later, sitting in a bar in Ba Sing Se, staring at the back of Toph's head.

At least... he thought it was her. It was hard to tell - but her hair was up in her signature bun, and - yes, there it was - he saw her tuck her long bangs behind her pale ears.

His voice was at the point of erupting, but he stopped himself at the last second. Would she really want to see him? After all the last time they'd spoken she had basically said she never wanted to see him again, and then she hadn't shown up at his wedding...

Sokka winced. Thinking about his wedding was painful. Luckily, his dilemma was solved when Toph noticed him first. 

"Sokka."

He whipped his head up. "Toph!" Furrowing his brow, he stared at her. She really was pretty, beautiful, lovely, with her fair skin and pale eyes, especially when they were fixed on him. 

"How - how did you know it was me?"

Toph smirked slightly, and Sokka felt his heart leap. "You were muttering out loud. You think I don't know your voice after fifteen years, Snoozles?"

"Oh." There was a pause. "What was I saying?"

"Something about a wedding and how I never wanted to see you again?" Toph shrugged, her sightless eyes boring into him. "I never said that."

"It sure felt like that."

"I'm assuming the wedding you're referring too is your own," she said a bit louder, as if Sokka hadn't spoken at all. "How's Suki?"

And there it was. Sokka sighed. It came up every time he talked to someone he hadn't seen in a while, people who asked about his family. The weight - that horrible weight that had settled on his shoulders three years ago when he'd received the news that Suki wouldn't be coming back from Kyoshi Island, that there had been an accident on the ship, that the storm had been too strong - it didn't get any lighter each time he answered.

"Suki -" his voice cracked, as it so often did when he mentioned her "- Suki died a few years ago."

At his words Toph's face, always hard, always set, melted into a drop a sympathy. Her hands slackened on her hips and her mouth parted. "I-I'm sorry, Sokka."

He closed his eyes and nodded. Toph didn't seem to know what to say; she shuffled her feet on the ground and bit her lip like she was debating saying something. 

"How come no one told me?"

Sokka looked up. "We had no way to contact you, Toph. You made sure we had no clue where you were."

She lowered her head. "Right."

"I know...I know that you were upset," Sokka began carefully. "But - " here he laughed nervously, "- I mean do you have any idea how that made me feel? How it made Katara, Aang, Zuko feel? Having no idea where you were or even if you were still alive?"

Toph kept quiet as Sokka got louder, his aura changing from relaxed into tense. She felt his heartbeat speeding up, his voice gaining anger, and allowed him to get it out, as he had five years ago for her.

"Seriously, Toph! They were worried, we were worried - I was worried! You can't just leave like that! Let us know something, anything, tell us that tire fin, at the very least! Do you have any idea how many times I couldn't sleep because I twisted myself into thinking that you were dead, long gone, that I was never going to see you again!

"And!" He gasped. "After Suki died, do you have ANY idea how much that fear increased? ANY IDEA? Toph, I was so scared! I was scared for you, afraid for your life! Didn't even know where you were! Had no...no clue...no idea..."

Finally he faded away, and Toph heard him slump back into his seat. She pictured his face slick in sweat, his mouth curved into a frown. 

"You done?"

He glared at her. "Yeah," he muttered. 

"Well, I wish I could say that I'm sorry, and part of me is, I think," she said. "But I'm not sorry that I left when I did. There was no way I could've stayed, Snoozles, it was too much."

"I understand," Sokka said softly. "I just - I wanted to tell how it felt for m- for the rest of us. God," Toph heard his voice catch slightly, "They're going to be thrilled that I've finally found you. Katara was so worried. Though how she found time to worry, with the two kids and one on the way -"

"Kids?" Toph interrupted. "As in plural? Last time I saw them Bumi was only two."

"Yeah, I'm an uncle of three now," he said, in a gentler tone. "Kya was born three years ago, and Katara's pregnant with the third right now."

"Oh. Congratulations." They were quiet for a few moments before Toph spoke again. 

"Speaking of babies, I should be getting home, my babysitter charges extra per minute."

"Babysitter?" Sokka spluttered. "What do you need a babysitter for? You don't - You're not -"

"My daughter. Lin," Toph said abruptly. "She's almost two now."

"Oh. Er, um, congrats, I guess," he said. "Your husband's a lucky guy."

She barked a short laugh. "Yeah, he was lucky he never married me. He left before her first birthday."

Sokka scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry."

"I got over it a long time ago."

"That sounds like the Toph I know."

"What do you mean?"

"The kickass independent earth bender who didn't take shit from anyone. That's my Toph."

"What are you doing, Sokka?" Toph said softly. 

"Huh?"

"I told you I was done when I left you in your courtyard," she said. "Don't do this. Not here. Not now. Not when I've spent the last five years trying to convince myself it never happened."

"Toph, come on. We're just two old friends catching up. That's all," he pleaded, but from the catch voice he didn't believe what he was saying.

"It's not, though," she muttered roughly. "Not when the girl is in love with the guy, it's no - AMPH- SOKK - ermph!"

Evidently Toph hadn't realized just how close Sokka had been to her, for he hadn't had to move at all in order to press his lips against hers or place his hand on her back. 

She also hadn't realized how easily she would fall into the kiss. How she would melt into his body, threading her fingers through his hair. How all her thoughts would flee from her mind, the only word in her brain his name. 

Sokka. Sokka. Sokka.

How disappointed she would feel when he finally pulled away, and how light her hand would be when it rested in his grip. She touched his finger, feeling for what she knew she wouldn't find. There was his ring finger, sans ring.

"I'm sorry," Sokka said hoarsely. "I just... I wanted to do that. Before.. in case you - in case you left again."

"Stop, Sokka."

"No. Toph, you made me realize why I was so worried, why that kiss was a long time coming -"

"Just STOP!" She yelled, wrenching her hand from his. "This - This - This isn't real! This is two people trying to find comfort, it's not real, it's not, you don't know what you're saying!"

"Yes I do! Yes, I finally know! I do know what I'm saying, Toph, this is real, please, I love you!" 

Toph was breathing very heavily. "You know, I know you don't like to give up, but I never thought you would play that card."

"It's not a card, Toph, damnit! Why is it so hard to believe that I would love you? Is it really so hard to believe that anyone would love you?"

"Not here," she hissed, jerking her head around. People were beginning to stare at them.

"Fine," he hissed back, hesitating but taking her hand and leading her out of the bar and into the Ba Sing Se evening. She did not let go, instead allowing him to guide her.

They reached the center of the square. Sokka let go of Toph's hand and faced her as a cold wind blew through the pair, making her hair whip gently across her face. Sokka blushed, and for once was glad that she couldn't see him.

"Tell me what's really bothering you, Toph," he started. "No lies, no fluff, and none of this shit about me not loving you."

"It's not shit. It's the truth."

"Toph!" 

"Come on, Sokka, how can you not see it? You can think it's real, you're just fooling yourself. You need someone to comfort you, and you find your old friend who you knew had a crush on you, and suddenly you're professing your love? It doesn't add up!"

Sokka sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "All right. I think I see the problem here."

He paused. Toph directed her eyes at where she hoped was his face and waited. 

"You've never had the easiest life." 

Toph snorted. "You picking up on that?"

He ignored this. "You had to work for everything you wanted, and your parents - well, they were dipshits, no fount about it. You made a whole new family, one that really did care about you, and you still built a wall between us. Then you meet a guy, have a kid with him, then he leaves. The wall gets even higher and even thicker."

Toph was silent. Sokka tapped his foot against the ground. 

"Then there's me. I won't deny it, I did love Suki. A part of me still does, just like a part of me still loves Yue. I know they'll never really leave me."

"Is this supposed to make me feel better?"

"But I also know that if Suki came back to life right now, and she was alive, I wouldn't be able to be with her again. I wouldn't be able to be with her and not think of you, because if there's anything missing Suki has made me realize, it's that you're the one I love, Toph." He shrugged simply. "That's all there is to it."

They were quiet for a long, long time, standing together in the foggy center of Ba Sing Se. Toph shuffled her feet. Finally she spoke.

"Maybe...maybe you're right," she muttered quietly. "You happy now?"

Sokka shook his head. "Not until you are."

Toph sniffed and tried to subtly wipe away her tears. "You're a pain, you know that, Snoozles?"

"Yeah. I know."

She let out a very un-Toph-like sob and threw her arms around Sokka, kissing him full on the mouth. He was surprised at first, but responded with such enthusiasm that he lifted her off the ground, swinging her around gently.

They swayed for a moment longer, then Sokka placed her down, lacing his fingers through hers.

"Can I say it now?"

Toph laughed, a real laugh, the kind you can't stop even if you wanted to. The sound made Sokka's knees feel weak. "Yes, Snoozles. Go ahead."

"I love you, Toph Bei Fong."

"I love you too, Sokka."

He sighed in relief. "Oh, good. I thought you might not say it back."

Toph squeezed his hand. "I did. And I meant it."

"I know you did," he smiled. "Noe hoe about I meet this daughter of yours?"

"Fine." She smirked. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

And they set off together down the path, hand in hand and hearts as one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the same story, I didn't like the way I wrote it so I redid it. Hope you like it!


End file.
